Illuminated sign



Jah. 48 1924.

`T. W. SIMPSON ILLUMINATED SIGN Filed Nov. 15. 1921 L u f INVENTOR Navy W'ampsoz BY 6fm 9 .LW/MJ ATTORNEY -,...unTuHu Patentedl Jan. 8, 1924.

um'rrzn `s 'm'rss PATENT omer..

TRACY W. SIMPSON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO FEDERAL ELEC- TRIC COMPANY,` INC., 0F EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

ILLUMINATED SIGN.

Application med Npvember 15, 1921. ser1a1No. 515,192.

To all whomz't may concm:

Be it known that 1, TRACY W. SIMPSON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at the*l city and county of San Francisco and 6 State of California, have invented new and usefullmprovements in Illuminated Signs, of which the followingisa specification.

This invention relates to illuminated signs, and more especially tof'a sign of this type 10 having removable and replaceable sign characters.

The object of the invention is to facilitate the removal and replacement of the letters whereby to change the reading matter of the same.

f One form which my invention may assume is exemplified in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing,` in which: ig.'1 shows a front elevation of a sign embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. l f

Fig. 3 shows a plan view in section taken 25 on the line 3-3 of Fi 1.

Fig. 4 shows a moiitied form of letter.

Referring in detail Yto the accompanying drawing, it will be seen that the sign comprises a box-like frame 10, on the interior of which are electric lamps 11.V In front of these lamps is a. glass partition 12, held in place by means of top and bottom guide lugs 13 formed upon the frame. In front of the glass partition and spaced therefrom are sign charactersjll. These sign characters are preferably formed of sheet metal, with the portion constituting the letter or character cut away and formed with an inwardly extending beveled border 15. Each si $0 character or letter is separate from t e others, and their vertical edges are overlapped as best shown in Fig. 3. The char acters are held in place by means of top and` bottom guide lugs 16, formed upon an -over-l .45 hanging portion 17 of the box-like frame. The upper guide lugs, both in the case of the glass partition and the sign characters, are somewhat elongated, and the height' of the glass and sign characters is such that the latter may be inserted and removed by lifting them up to the end of the slot formed by the n per guide lugs, so that their lower i edges wi clear the lower guides. To fa cilitate lifting the sign characters `I may provide each with a hand hold 18.

The glass partition is formed in sections or sheets of glass, as indicated in Fig. 3, and preferably there is some space left at either end of the frame, as indicated yat 18 in Fig. 3, so that the glass sheets may be slid horizontallyA within their guide lugs to provide a space at any point along the length of Athe sign, interior of the. sign when it is desired to replace a'burnt out lamp.

On account of the space between the glass whereby to permit access to the` and the sign character, there is no danger of the spirit of my invention as disclosed in the ap nded claims.

preferably arrange a clip 19 on the bottom of each'sheet of glass as shown in Fig. 2, said clip being (provided with a projection 20 forming a han hold for lifting the glass,

whereby to facilitate insertion or removal of ythe sheet.

In Fig. 4I show a modified form of letter wherein a rib 21 is formed between the background and beveled border of the letter. Thislends strength. to the construction and improves the appearance thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y lfAn illuminated sign comprising a boxlike frame fitted interiorly with lamps, sets of horizontal guides formed at the top and bottom'of the frame adjacent the front thereof, a plurality of independent sign characl @ters adapted to be received by one of said sets of guides, said sign `characters being yformed of sheet metal cut out tov form dev sired characters, a sectional translucent partition positioned between said sign cha-racters and the lamps and adapted to be su ported by the second set of guides, the heig t of the *signl charactersand the sections of the partitions being such as to permit them a. t0 be removed and inserted by telescoping all the sign characters and sections of the partition.

2. An illuminated sign comprising a boxlilre frame fitted interiorly with lamps, sets of horizontal guides formed at the top and bottom of the frame adjacent the front thereof, a plurality of independent sign characters adapted to beF 'received by one of said Sets of guides, a sectional translucent partition positioned between said sign characters and said lamps and adapted to be supported by the second set of guides, the height readme of the sign characters and the sections of the partition being such as to permit them to be removed and inserted by telescoping vthe same Within upper guides whereby said sections of the partition and said sign characters may be separately removed to permit access to be had to any point in the frame Without removing all of the sign characters and sections of the artition, said si characters being forme of rectangular s eets of sheet metal cut out to form openings in the shape of the desired characters, marginal edges of said openings being inwardly beveled and extending to a point in close proximity to said partition, and a hand hold xed on each of said sign characters and each 0f said sections of the partition.

\ TRACY W. SllilllPSN.. 

